A good description would be an overloaded, underpowered prop plane — with scrawny legs — struggling frantically to become airborne.

But after nearly disappearing from the Quebec countryside because of uncontrolled hunting and the loss of habitat, the wild turkey — Meleagris gallopavo silvestris is what biologists call them — have fought their way back from the brink.

Today, they are flourishing — and all the rage of birdwatchers and the province’s hunting class alike.

The people not so happy to see them are Quebec’s farmers, who fear the population is exploding and that can mean damage to their fields and crops. Some fear they could hamper conventional poultry farming as the giant, hungry gobblers venture near farm buildings looking for grain.

And, yes, it’s true, owners of Eastern Township vineyards report the birds have acquired a fondness for the grape.

It’s a tricky situation. For a species that was nearly wiped off the map, how many is too many in modern times?

Determining that number is made more complicated by the fact biologists are not entirely sure how many there are out there. The best information they have comes from hunters and farmers who attest there are a lot in the south, clustered in the Montérégie, the Eastern Townships, Quebec centre and Outaouais regions.

They were reintroduced in these regions starting in 2000 with a project spearheaded by Quebec’s hunting and fishing association and Quebec’s Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs. Forty operations involving 600 turkeys transferred from western Quebec was all it took.

The province’s milder winters, courtesy of climate change, did the rest of the job, as more and more birds survived.

Unlike deer and moose, which can be counted from the air, the brown and shy wild turkey blends in too well, and that makes counting them no easy task.

“It’s very hard to get an exact number,” said François Lebel, a biologist at the ministry who co-ordinates the bird’s presence and drafted the province’s first wild turkey management plan.

“The numbers grew beautifully. We don’t want the population to explode, but we have a conservation mandate.”

One way the ministry is trying to get a proper head count is by surveying hunters. They have been allowed to hunt turkeys since 2008 once it was determined there were enough surplus birds to allow a turkey shoot.

The popularity of the hunt took off. In 2008, 2,277 wild turkey hunting permits were issued. In 2016, that number had soared to 14,269.

“It has become a star game bird,” Lebel said. “That explains the popularity of the hunt.”

This is not to say, however, 14,000 turkeys ended up on the dinner table (they say the meat is lean, but dry unless you cook it properly) in 2016.

In fact, the odds are clearly on the side of the bird.

For one thing, hunters can stalk turkey only a few weeks of the year — in springtime when the males are strutting their impressive feathers seeking a mate.

This year’s hunt starts April 28 and ends May 19. The licence is for male birds only and only one bird a year in most regions — the limit has been upped to two in areas that have large populations.

The hunt is also limited from early in the morning to noon.

That means your average hunter is far from guaranteed to get a prize. In 2016, Quebec hunters bagged about 5,881 turkeys. That’s about a 30-per-cent success rate.

There’s another factor. Despite its reputation as thick-headed, the relatively docile wild turkey likes to keep to itself, feeding on grains and sleeping in trees at night — well away from gun-toting humans trying to fool them by wearing camouflage clothing.

“Despite possessing a brain the size a peanut, a wild turkey is one paranoid critter,” says one how-to guide on the Internet. “You would be, too, if you were walking around wearing a suit made of Thanksgiving dinner.

“That legendary wariness is a big part of what makes turkey hunting so damn much fun, but also quite difficult.”

Hunters are patient despite the odds against them, Lebel said. A poll shows they are motivated for two reasons: One is the challenge of getting the drop such elusive targets. You have to get within 30 metres of the turkey to actually be sure of your shot.

The second is the opportunity to observe them in their habitat.

There is lore around the birds, too. The story goes Benjamin Franklin wanted the wild turkey to be the national bird of the U.S., but the bald eagle won out. The wild turkey had to settle for being the namesake of a popular brand of Kentucky bourbon.

Quebecers got to know the bird firsthand in March 2016 when a wild turkey crashed through the picture window of Céline Poulin’s home in Gatineau and damaged the living-room furniture in a mad panic to escape.

The video of her interview with TVA news in which she described the turkey as a “grosse bibitte noire,” went viral and has been seen 112,000 times.

A turkey can get big. A mature male weighs between six and eight kilograms; a female weighs about four.

Birdwatchers are keen, too. The wild turkey’s remarkable resurgence earned it a place on the cover of the winter edition of the Quebec birding magazine, Québec Oiseaux.

Birders interviewed say in the old days they used to have travel hundreds of kilometres in southern Quebec just to spot one. Now it’s easier, given the bird’s preference to travel in large flocks.

It’s also become big business. Quebec’s annual hunt generates an estimated $5 million a year in economic spinoffs. And the number of out-of-province hunters is on the rise.

“It’s the biggest growing hunt in Quebec,” an official said.

Still, there’s a downside. Ask the farmers. In the Eastern Townships, there have been reports of as many as 200 turkeys taking over pastureland, even making their nests right in the middle of the crop. The damage to seedlings is significant.

The farmers have appealed to their representatives at the powerful Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), which has asked the government to allow a second hunt in the fall.

The UPA argues hunters have a hard time distinguishing the male and female turkeys in the spring because they are too young and are underdeveloped. A fall shoot would be more efficient.

The ministry says much depends on what this fall’s headcount by hunters shows.

“It’s not excluded in the management plan,” Lebel said. “We have a conservation mandate, but when it’s clear the numbers are stable and the birds are abundant, it could happen.”

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